The Dean’s recent PEAK revision proposal (Oct. 11, 2018) has a credit limit for majors of 33-36. This was obtained by doubling the “established” guidelines for minors having 15-18 credits to fit within PEAK. This establishment of minor guidelines is not followed by approximately \(1/3\) of all minors at the College of Idaho, and is not supported by some faculty.

Description of Data

All NSM majors are above this limit - with the potential exception of chemistry which doesn’t list any required math or physics courses in the major despite some being prerequisites for required chemistry courses (CHE-431 - “Physical Chemistry I” - is required of the major and has prerequisites of MAT-175, PHY-271, and PHY-272; a “hidden” 13 credits.) Using the 2018-2019 catalog, I have gathered credit totals for each non-interdisciplinary NSM major (excluding Environmental Studies and Elementary Precertification, since such major will likely be broken up if the PEAK proposal is approved) as well as the distribution of credits at the 100, 200, and 300/400 level. I have included chemistry’s hidden 13 credits of math and physics, and when a requirement allows a course at different levels (such as MAT-125 or MAT-212) I have counted the credits of the lower level course. The intend is to look at what a student seeking to do the bare minimum will have to do.

Summary of NSM Major Credit Requirements

NSM majors have credit requirements ranging from 37 to 58 credits, with an average minimum credit count of 44.875 credits. Here is a table of credit requirements by major with distribution by course level:

Name Min.Credits credit.100 credit.200 credit.3400
Biochemistry 55 12 14 28
Biology 45 7 16 22
Biomedical Sciences 45 11 20 18
Chemistry 47 15 13 20
Exercise Science 44 7 18 22
Math 38 8 10 19
Math/CS 48 17 14 11
Math/Phy 37 8 9 19

Here is a visual of the range of credits required by each major:

Here is a visual of the credits required at each course level: